The rallies were staged after Navalny called on his supporters to join an “all-Russian protest action” on Saturday, while he was still under administrative arrest. The demonstrators called on the Russian authorities to “free” the activist and allow him to run for president in the forthcoming 2018 elections.

However, Navalny is currently serving a suspended sentence after being convicted of embezzlement in 2014, and Russian law bans such people from registering as candidates in presidential polls.

Read more

Many demonstrations did not receive the approval of local authorities required by Russian law. Nevertheless, most of them ended peacefully without any major incidents, police said.

In Moscow, about 700 people joined an unsanctioned rally in the center of the city, according to the Moscow police department. The protesters gathered at Pushkin Square and later marched to the building of the Russian State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.

The demonstrators then returned to Pushkin Square and dispersed, RIA news agency reports, adding that police repeatedly called on the protesters to end their action but took no measures to disperse the crowd by force.

Similar actions were held in the cities of St. Petersburg, Vladimir, Samara and Nizhniy Novgorod as well as in the Siberian cities of Yakutsk, Irkustsk and Novosibirsk. Most of the rallies were attended by several dozen protesters. In Saratov, about a hundred people joined the protest.

The unsanctioned protest in St. Petersburg reportedly saw some arrests, judging by photos from the scene. However, the police have not yet released official figures.